In praise and defence of hunting with hounds

In the summer of 1999 Blair chose a popular current affairs programme to announce that a ban on hunting was likely. Everything went quiet but on 11.11.99 the Home Secretary announced that he was establishing an enquiry under Lord Burns.

Dr. Victoria Edwards, Professor Sir John Marsh, Lord Soulsby and Professor Michael Winter were appointed to the committee.

The Inquiry's terms of reference were:

"To inquire into:

• the practical aspects of different types of hunting with dogs and its impact on the rural economy, agriculture and pest control, the social and cultural life of the countryside, the management and conservation of wildlife, and animal welfare in particular areas of England and Wales;
• the consequences for these issues of any ban on hunting with dogs; and
• how any ban might be implemented."

Lord Burns used a number of approaches to collect evidence including an invitation for organisations and individuals to make submissions. This request for evidence was presented as a series of 17 questions. These appear on the Inquiry Website.

The work of the committee, a selection of the evidence submitted and the outcome of other research approaches is all to be found at the Inquiry Website or a paraphrased version can be opened in a new window by clicking here

Following the receipt of the first stage evidence a further invitation was issued that allowed for responses to the first stage evidence. Again information was posted to the Inquiry Website. Altogether 342 first stage and 89 second stage submissions were published on the site.

The submissions contained a wealth of information that will remain of interest long after the Inquiry website closes down. Old Norris invited a selection of contributors to grant permission for their submissions to appear on this site.

Lord Burns final report was published on 12.6.00 and is available from the Inquiry Website. as a PDF file or at a different URL, HTML

Thank you to all who agreed to allow their work to appear here.

Nick Onslow June 2000